Well, after a year and a bit of being a dedicated employee...the new owners of the gas station I worked at decided that I "wasn't a good fit"...whatever that means. I have my suspicions but I resolved to not be bitter.
When I showed up for on the 21st I was told that I was finished. Just like that. No explanation.
I went through the entire gamut of emotions...I cried, then I got mad, I stayed awake at night wondering what I'd done wrong. Who was going to rescue the pigeons!
Then I decided that they'd done me a favour. I wasn't getting nearly enough hours anyways and couldn't find another part-time job.
I re-wrote my resume and handed out a dozen copies here, there, and anywhere. Just for the fun of it I filled out an on-line application for a local company. Could have knocked me over with a feather when I got an e-mail to arrange a phone interview. I actually almost deleted it as spam!!
Passed the phone interview and was asked to come in for some computer knowledge testing. Passed that and was offered the job. More hours, more pay, and if I hang around long enough, benefits even. I start on the 14th.
The job? Let's just say that if you answer the phone around suppertime and some girl with a Canadian accent says "Hi, my name's Lee Anne, and I'd like to interest you in...." don't hang it up too loudly, ok? My ears are a wee bit sensitive.
Oh, and about the pigeons. I've offered a "pigeon bounty" to the girls I used to work with. I'll give them $10 for every hurt bird they call me to come and get.
Isn't life grand?
It's that time of year. The weather is getting colder and the fish haveto be brought in for the winter.Our pond is shallow (18 inches) so they can't live out there all year.
Years ago I found a fibreglass pond liner so we have it set up in the basement. The fish can live happily down there all winter...they kind of go semi-dormant.
Do you think I could find the net? Noooo. Neccessity is the mother of invention and so I put Moms antique popcorn popper to work.
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Years and years ago my Dad built a garden seat/bench for Mom. It was beautiful and she used it a lot to rest between playing in the garden.
Eventually, after a lot of use and then being moved here its legs, that were buried in the ground, rotted away and it blew over one summer.
DH leaned it up against the shingle shack and I'd hide in there while photographing birds.
Then, as things made of wood in our climate will do the cedar shingles rotted and the sides fe
ll off.
Oh, wait, you're all probably back there wondering what the dickens is a "shingle shack".The shingle shack is a building that resides in my back yard. It was, way back in 1835, the original homestead. According to the old timers here in the village, it was used during the first war as a safe place to keep all of the towns important documents. True? I don't know...but nobody (including myself) has ever had the heart to tear it down.
N
ow, where was I? Oh, right. I've been rescuing pigeons at work. There are 5 crows that tend to hunt them, as crows will do. They sometimes miss and knock the pigeons for a bit of a loop. The pigeons live on the roof of the gas station. The loopy pigeons wander around and used to get squished by cars. Until I started working there that is. I run out and scoop them up and bring them home until they get better.
You're all probably wondering about now if I've got some kind of point happening here...am I actually going someplace or just typing aimlessly. You'll see...
Well, the pigeons have been living on my front porch. It's screened in but it was getting kind of...um...messy. Pigeons are not the cleanest birds. DH knows that there's no way I'm going to stop rescuing pigeons, so he came up with a solution. Pigeon coop.
He took out the window in the shingle shack and put that garden bench in front of it, wrapped it with chicken wire and ta da! one run out for pigeons. Inside was a different story. He needed help. Enter the man DH occasionally works for. He keeps pigeons and has also been known to build the occasional house.
The turkey was in the oven. It was an amazingly gorgeous October day (in the 80's). Tools were set up, wood was scrounged.
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| Inside of the shingle shack. | Wood and tools gathered. DH is the tall, scrawny one on the right. |
Me? I know well enough to let men do their thing when tools are involved. I grabbed my camera and took a look around to see what was happening.
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| Found some bugs. | |
Meanwhile, work was progressing right along.
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| Walls being made and chicken wired. | |
The turkey finished cooking. We all took a break to eat. Turkey, stuffing, carrots and parsnips out of the garden, home made rolls, gravy and lemon pie for dessert. We ate outside since it was such a lovely day. Couldn't of asked for a nicer Thanksgiving.
After lunch the men commenced work on the inside.
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| Discussing logistics. | Coop top going up. |
I found some more bugs, and other things to shoot.
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| Spider | Freaky angles on the back of the house. |
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| Hi! | Battle wounds |
In the end it was fun. Good company (Thank you Jim), good food, great day, and a mission accomplished. One 9' x 7' coop (inside) and Happy Pigeons!!
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It's been a beautiful summer weather-wise. Everything stayed lush and green for the whole season.
Fields of cow corn are taller than my 6' 3" DH.
Some enterprising farmers managed to get 4 cuts of hay!! 4 cuts! Amazing in an area that only has maybe 3 a months growing season.
Not surprising though is the fact that now everyone has so much hay they don't know what to do with it. So I drive by lots of big round bales just rotting in the fields.
So sad....every time I drive by those fields I think of drought stricken Texas, where there is no hay, and I wish there was a way to send it south-ward.
Woke up this morning with a funny tickle in the back of my throat...heavy eyes...weird sinus feeling. Everything tastes blah.
I do believe I've got the beginnings of a good old fashioned cold.
Working with the public like I do I suppose it's almost a miracle I've been healthy for as long as I have. It was inevitable.
Break out the chicken soup, Neo Citron, and I might just go to the Liquor Store and invest in a wee bottle of Cinnamon Schnapps (awesome mixed with the apple flavoured Neo Citron)
On the bright side, this could very well explain my chronic stupidity of late...
